OFSAA XC cancelled for 2020, but there’s an in-person alternative for fall racing

On Wednesday OFSAA made the call to cancel its fall sports for 2020. The decision makes sense, given the circumstances surrounding both sport in general and the uncertainty of the upcoming school year. However, it leaves high school students wondering if they’ll have any opportunities to compete this fall. In Ontario, Athletics Ontario is working to ensure a fall racing season and thus far they’ve been successful, with six meets already on the calendar. 

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Paul Osland, the CEO of AO is confident there will be a fall cross-country season. “The cross-country national championships are still slated to go ahead,” he says. “We’ll see if this happens. It might change location, but it seems like it’s going to happen. Currently there are six meets on our provincial list, and we haven’t even added the ones from the Ottawa region yet.”

Recreational members can now compete in AO races

Before the pandemic, Athletics Ontario members with a recreational membership were unable to compete. However, since high school and elementary students no longer have competition options at school, AO has amended this rule. “We want to open up cross-country for more folks to compete,” says Osland. “Usually we don’t allow recreational members to compete in these races, but we’re allowing it now. For U12, the recreational fee is only $5 for the year. For anybody over 12, it’s $20. This is just because we have to give a cut to Athletics Canada for each membership. I think two or three cross-country races for only $20 is pretty good.”

If high school or elementary aged runners are looking for a team atmosphere, there are also lots of affiliated clubs across the province they can join to train for these meets. Those clubs are listed here. 

If runners are interested, they can register here. 

What will socially distanced cross-country races look like?

Osland says socially distanced cross-country meets will run all day and in waves of participants. “We’ll start each race with rows of people. In cross-country, things filter out quickly, but the start remain an issue, so we’ll limit numbers based on the length of the start line. While running these in-person events is certainly better than nothing, we can only accommodate so many runners at one time, which means there will be entry caps.”

Osland adds that they’re doing their best to accommodate as many runners as possible. “There will be thousands of kids without the opportunity to race this fall, and we want to help as many as we can. We’re determined to keep these kids engaged.”

Athletics Ontario safety guidelines can be found here. OFSAA has yet to announce its plans for spring sports. 

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